Control of immunization cards, i.e. vaccination control against 13 infectious diseases, began on April 1. The Chief Sanitary Inspector wants to learn about detailed statistics of children's vaccination in Poland, from birth to 19 years old. Parents who evade this obligation must take into account proceedings and penalties.
The immunization card is the individual medical documentation of the patient, in which entries and information on all protective vaccinations that have been carried out from birth. These documents are usually assumed by the staff of newborn departments and then go to subsequent medical facilities in which patients receive healthcare services. Since the beginning of April, these cards are underway for completeness. Applications will be described by sanitary inspectors in relevant protocols.
– This result of the summary control, expected by us, will be to learn the statistics of vaccinated children in Poland against 13 infectious diseases that are covered by the vaccination obligation in Poland, from birth to 19 years of age. We hope that we will also know how many people are unvaccinated and what are the reasons for the fact that children are not vaccinated – says Newseria news agency Paweł Grzesiowski, Chief Sanitary Inspector.
However, the first, positive control effects can already be seen in clinics. As it turns out, some parents, knowing about the job of sanitary inspectors, change their minds on vaccinations and try to complement the backlog.
– Parents, hearing about control, are currently visiting vaccination points more oftenso we can already say that there is a positive effect of control, because probably some people simply forgot to supplement vaccination and we already know that there are more people willing to vaccinate. The second thing is that vaccination points are also beginning to look at the documentation that was in them or is in them, not everyone is constantly analyzing vaccination cards and regularly send to the sanitary inspection notification of unvaccinated persons, so now we also see an increased number of entries sent to us – explains Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski.
The immunization card is a fairly detailed document. In addition to the patient's data, it contains precise information not only about the type of vaccine, but also the dates and hours of vaccination. There are also details about the preparation itself, such as its commercial name and the series number given in the production plant. Information about the place of administration of the vaccine is also required.
The Chief Sanitary Inspector draws attention to one more positive aspect of control, i.e. organizing documentation in clinics, including verification of vaccination cards. The time will come for full conclusions when the final post -audit statistics will be ready. Experts, however, have no illusions that the system has gaps for various reasons.
– We can assume in advance that some children are outside the system, i.e., for example, the card is empty, the child is not, did not report to the doctor, it will be necessary to explain whether the child is not under the care of another clinic, so this will definitely be the first stage, it will be verification of those children whom we do not have data. The second thing is the matter of investigating the cause of insufficiency, we know that many children are released from vaccinations for medical reasons, these will not be the subject of our activities – emphasizes the Chief Sanitary Inspector.
Medicine knows cases of contraindications to vaccination. Each such situation should also be recorded by a doctor in the immunization card. GIS ensures that in such situations there is no question of vaccination. However, there is a group of parents who, without giving reasons, simply do not vaccinate their children.
– We will want to analyze in the next stage in more detail what families are, where it came from and what is the mechanism for which they do not want to vaccinateWhat is also the role of this vaccination point in possible mediation or in some contacts with such a family, because we know that it is very different here, some vaccination points are very actively trying to make contact with such families, others less. So we also want to analyze it and only then we will plan specific next steps – says Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski.
According to the law, the evasion of mandatory vaccinations of children is threatened with administrative and criminal penalties. The obligation to undergo protective vaccinations is imposed by art. 5 of the Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans. According to this provision, parents or legal guardians are responsible for vaccination.
The maximum, one -time fines that the poviat sanitary inspector may apply can reach up to 10,000. zlotybut they can be applied many times. However, this is an extreme situation. Parents can also receive a penalty of up to PLN 500 for each child if they refuse to make a vaccination and do not give justified reasons.
It happens that in the event of persistent evasion of this obligation, the case goes to care courts that may decide to limit parental responsibility in a situation where the lack of vaccination violates the good of the child.
– The regulations in Poland are very clear if we find that someone is persistently avoiding vaccinations, then they are subject to penalties and enforcement procedureSo here we cannot act against the law. However, first you need to make sure that this family evades vaccinations in a persistent way, i.e. they refuse vaccination without giving any reason, they are not visited. We have to learn the history of such families, because there are currently many proceedings in Poland in Poland against parents who do not vaccinate their children – says the Chief Sanitary Inspector.
He adds, however, that not all parents are subject to penalties in the same extent. – For example, there are children who have adopted some vaccinations, parents of vaccinations refuse, so we can not treat everyone equally. It is also a matter of investigating what, which family, what vaccinations have overdue and possibly resumption of dialogue with such a family – he emphasizes.
Currently, Polish law does not impose any compulsory vaccinations for adults. It is only about recommended vaccinations. This means that there are virtually no mechanisms that allow you to verify how many adults are vaccinated and how many are not.
– You can only think about the survey or voluntary undergoing this kind of study, but there is no mechanism that in Poland would allow you to control vaccination in adults. Yes, one could know, because we have vaccinations at the moment, already covered by an electronic vaccination card, one could think about such a look, how many vaccinations are made as part of this mechanism, while because the electronic vaccination card has come in virtually since 2024, the data is really very, very residual – admits Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski.
